Pueblo Revolt

The Pueblo Revolt occurred on 10-21 August 1680 when the Pueblo Native Americans of New Mexico rose up against Spanish rule and expelled the Spanish settlers. 400 Spanish were killed and the 2,000 settlers were forced to flee back to New Spain.

In 1675, Governor Juan Francisco Trevino ordered the arrest of 47 Pueblo medicine men and accused them of hexing Spanish priests, rampaging through pueblos, burning kivas, and destroying animist idols. Four medicine men were sentenced to be hanged, with three of them being executed, and one committing suicide. However, the Spanish agreed to release the other prisoners rather than face a Pueblo revolt, as they were already fighting against the Navajo and Apache. However, one of the released medicine men, Popay, began to plan an uprising against Spanish rule. He sought for the Pueblo to return to their old ways and to oust the Spanish from power, and mixed-race mestizos who knew the Spanish intimately joined in the uprising. They planned to ambush and kill several Spanish soldiers, burn the oppressive Catholic churches, free the Spanish cattle, close the roads, have a pan-Pueblo army descend upon the Governor's Palace, and expel the Governor. On 9 August, however, the Spanish governor in Santa Fe discovered the plot. The leaders decided to rise up two days before the planned revolt, with runners racing back and forth between the armies. The Pueblo destroyed all of the Spanish settlements in New Mexico between 10 and 13 August, and they then descended on the capital. Antonio de Otermin repelled the Pueblo assaults on the palace with heavy losses before fleeing, and the Spanish evacuated the Upper Rio Grande, retreating to Paso del Norte. The revolt was complete, and the Pueblo went to the river to cleanse themselves of the past. The Pueblo built their villages on historical sites and on high mesas, and they returned to their kivas and returned to their sacred dances. Back in Paso del Norte, the Spanish planned a reconquest, and efforts in 1681 and 1687 failed. Popay died in 1688, and Diego de Vargas returned to Santa Fe unopposed in August 1692 and partially restored Spanish rule to New Mexico. The peace was bloodless, but the Pueblo were able to continue practicing their traditional religion and had a degree of independence in the north.